Locked Up

Orange Is the New Black Will Last at Least Seven Seasons

House of Cards may have arrived a bit earlier, but Orange is the New Black has now proven beyond a doubt that it is the foundation that Netflix is founded upon. The prison-set comedy-drama from Jenji Kohan has been renewed for a whopping three additional seasons, which will bring them through the end of season 7 and making them essentially by default the longest-running streaming series in history.

“In some cultures, ‘May you lead an interesting life,’ is a curse, but I don’t live in those cultures,” said Kohan in a statement (via [Variety}(http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/orange-is-the-new-black-renewed-3-seasons-netflix-1201698227/). It won’t be the first time Kohan has shepherded a series to a long life; her Showtime series Weeds ran for eight seasons. There are plenty who would argue that Weeds over-extended itself, suggesting that a full seven-season run of Orange is the New Black may not be the best fate, particularly for a series that began with a heroine who was sentenced to serve 15 months in prison. Then again, Weeds never had remotely the critical acclaim that Orange Is the New Black does—so if it’s starting from a stronger point, maybe that means that a longer run is more feasible?

Either way, with House of Cards showrunner Beau Willimon stepping down at the end of the upcoming fourth season and the show’s continuing fate unclear from there, Kohan and the women of Litchfield are clearly becoming the standard-bearers for Netflix—helped by the fact that they keep snapping up awards by the armful, bringing prestige to the upstart streaming service. Cheers to Jenji, Uzo Aduba, Taylor Schilling, and all the rest of the crew. May their reign last 100 years.